Newton

The story of an election commission officer who is sent to conduct the process of voting in the remote jungles of Chhattisgarh, where the Government wants elections, the Maoists oppose elections and the public gives a rat’s bottom about either. The officer is such a stickler for rules and righteousness that he is appalled by the state of affairs on the ground. This is one of those movies which are so true to the facts and delivered so well that they are a class apart by themselves. Each of the cast and crew has delivered impeccably, whether it is Rajkummar Rao as the semantic officer, Anjali Patil as the only educated local in the godforsaken jungle, Pankaj Tripathi as the weathered security forces commandant who balks at the officer’s utopian whims, Raghubir Yadav as the assistant election officer or Amit Masurkar who weaves all these characters into the plot of the story. There are good movies and bad movies and then there are movies with character. This is one such and hence, this is a must watch! 

Kingsman : The Golden Circle

After their encounter with the notorious Richmond Valentine, the Kingsman secret service is targeted by a psychotic drug cartel which calls itself the Golden Circle. After their headquarters get blown up, they have to seek help of their counterparts in the US called the Statesman secret service. What is not to like about Savile Row suited men, high octane action and some upper class British humour. But in spite of all those and an addition to the cast in the form of Jeff Bridges, Channing Tatum, Halle Berry, Julianne Moore and Pedro Pascal with some corny humour thrown in by Elton John, this sequel is rather disappointing. The story line is stereotypical of the first part and even the return of Colin Firth's character doesn't salvage it. The savage touch of Valentine and his blade wielding assistant is also sorely missed. Sadly, this movie suffers from the "Sequel Curse". Watch it only if you have nothing more productive to do.

Hitman's Bodyguard

A renowned security and protection expert loses his business when one of his high profile clientele is murdered while on his watch. His life becomes even rockier when he is called upon to provide protection to an assassin, a man who was his professional enemy. The movie takes us on a high octane journey across Europe and does not have one moment which is low key. The on screen love-hate bond between Samuel Jackson and Ryan Reynolds is dunked in humour and laced with choice expletives by Samuel's character. I haven't laughed so much watching a movie, in a while now! This is a must watch.

Lucknow Central

The story of an aspirant singer who is wrongly convicted of a high profile murder, who hatches a plan to escape from the Lucknow Central high security prison in the pretext of forming a music band to perform on the occasion of the Independence day celebrations. A popcorn watch, though the plot unravels pretty predictably. Though the lead cast including Farhan Akhtar, Rajesh Sharma, Deepak Dobriyal and Inaamulhaq did a great job, for me, the antagonists took the show away; Ronit Roy as the jailer and Ravi Kishan as the CM. Go watch it.